There's a lot of fiscal cliff discussion in the news. Blame the reds, blame the blues, blame the president, blame the congress, blame the 47%. You get the picture.

This is a Bipartisan seed. Facts, no blame. Good for a source, and no it is not a blog!

Opinion: We hope the Sierra-Nevadas doesn't get pounded too hard by this upcoming storm -- another bailout we can hardly afford.

From the seeded article:

If the debt limit is reached this year, the financial maneuvers, also known as Extraordinary Measures, available to Treasury will not last as long as they did in the lead-up to the ultimate debt limit increase in 2011. The federal government will have only $197 billion in Extraordinary Measures available to meet its federal obligations – a substantially smaller amount than last year. Also, the month of February has historically entailed the highest deficit of the year due to the beginning of the tax filing season and the need for the federal government to begin distributing tax refunds.

BPC used estimates of cash on hand and the operating cash flows of the federal government to project the February 2013 date. A number of factors, including the outcome of the fiscal cliff negotiations, a failure to patch the Alternative Minimum Tax by the end of 2012 or additional deficit spending for Hurricane Sandy disaster relief, could alter the February 2013 date slightly. BPC’s analysis also found that last year’s delay to increase the debt limit will cost taxpayers $18.9 billion over ten years.

In addition to defaulting on financial obligations, BPC found that several other risks could result if the federal government fails to increase the debt limit, including higher interest payments on U.S. bonds and a possible downgrade of the United States’ sovereign debt.